The industry 4.0 concept has penetrated the present industrial world, energizing and propelling many companies to embrace and expand digital transformation, optimizing every nook and corner of the production process.

The industrial sector needs to update itself continuously, not just to excel. Then? For mere survival in the face of stiff competition. What is Industry 4.0 all about? It advocates smart factories, wherein humans and cyber-physical systems interact via the cloud. Such factories are capable of gathering huge volumes of production data. This real-time data is used as a foundation to compute and report valuable operational metrics. These metrics foster a data-driven culture for continuous learning and optimizing operations, driving innovation, competitiveness, and growth. The approach minimizes time and saves operating, utility, and maintenance costs. Such factories can autonomously adapt to production needs instantly.

Automation of manual process

Industry 4.0 calls for automation of processes, eliminating human intervention to the maximum possible extent. The reason is that humans are associated with limitations in error-free operations and tend to get bored performing monotonous tasks. Maintenance chores and data entry works don’t deserve to rob much of your precious time. When applications intimate people on assigned tasks on mobile devices, they don’t tend to forget them. Complete digitization of the value chain is necessary for the all-around improvement of the organization. Digitization enables you to forecast, control and manufacture products intelligently.

Automation replaces manual tasks requiring physical strain with sensors and interconnected systems. It can safely remove the risks associated with hazardous environments. Initial set-up costs are not high in most cases and will prove fruitful eventually.

Audit digital maturity index

Irrespective of your business model, be it Configure to order, Make to Stock, Make to order, Engineer to order, etc. You can make your company digitally advanced. It starts with defining the current digital maturity. The first step is realization of the current business position- where you stand and know where to reach during the digital transformation process. Audit and analyze existing business models, processes, and assets. This self-introspection will provide you with a good start on the journey of Industry 4.0. You can quantify digital maturity based on hardware, software, and cultural factors. A 100% digitized company exercises the best control over the state of the business with out-of-the-box thinking using AI.

Digitization – The game changer

The evolution of companies is significant only when organizations achieve greater efficiency in terms of physical assets and human resources. Digitization helps you optimize the production processes, sparing ample time for strategic tasks wherever needed. For maintenance, structured communication is essential between production assets and operations management. Paper or excel sheet-based maintenance approaches have proved their ineffectiveness and lack of power to scale for decades. Hence let us not elaborate on that.

Cloud Technology, AI & ML

Cloud computing is the primary enabler of Industry 4.0 and digital transformation. Today’s cloud technology & web hosting are associated with high uptime, server speed, scalability, storage, and affordability. It serves as the framework for most advanced technologies ranging from AI and machine learning to the Internet of Things – offering businesses the means to innovate. The data that powers Industry 4.0 technologies resides in the cloud, and the cyber-physical systems, lying at the heart of Industry 4.0 employs the cloud for collaboration.

Why EAM for maintenance automation?

An Enterprise Asset Maintenance(EAM) provides you with a production dashboard with specific functions – production, quality, maintenance, etc., The beauty of EAM lies in translating production and operational data into ‘metrics that matter’ for strategic, tactical, and structured reporting. It manages master data to reveal analytics for ensuring integrity, accuracy, semantic consistency, and accountability of main assets. SMEs need them to perform system-independent operations for streamlining maintenance by leveraging edge, cloud, and other advanced technologies. An EAM offers predictive maintenance capabilities that provide the right balance between preventive and corrective maintenances. The predictive maintenance module triggers a schedule only based on conditions indicated by critical parameters. It is a new technique that combines IIoT with Artificial Intelligence to anticipate future failures.

Automation lies at the heart of digitization. It is the foundation layer over which blocks of capable software such as ERP, CRM, etc., are built for reaching ambitious goals, showcasing your business with a winning edge over a lot of competition, and becoming a part of the present-day innovation.

IIoT, SCADA & PLC

SCADA (Supervisory, Control, and Data Acquisition) systems are a software application suite for remote monitoring, control, and optimization of industrial processes. As an integral part of IIoT(Industrial IIoT), they integrate data collected from various industrial processes and PLCs locally. Build an interconnected digital ecosystem of hardware, CMMS, sensors, PLC & SCADA to reduce carbon emissions by conserving fuel and power for turning your facilities into green buildings. You can regulate energy consumption from the remote location you are by turning off units with unjustifiable consumption.

Importance of cybersecurity

With the increased connectivity and use of Big Data in Industry 4.0, effective cybersecurity must be in place. Companies can automate threat detection, prevention, and response – and minimize the risk of data breaches and production delays across their networks.   

Is Industry 4.0 adoption difficult?

Will Industry 4.0 adoption pose challenges for our staff?

It is common for people to resist any change. History shows excerpts such as the migration from typewriters to computers. Industry 4.0 solutions reduce the complexity for the key stakeholders and all end users.

Technicians, customers, and default asset users can express problem statements or fixes using multimedia illustrations and image annotations. It is an excerpt that digital transformation can go deep into simplifying team collaboration and operations..  Furthermore, many 4.0 technologies facilitate mobile-optimized experiences.

AI powered maintenance management

Expedite industrial maintenance for transforming facilities viewed as cost centers into profit centers by exploring never-before and untapped avenues for savings. Artificial Intelligence powered self-diagnosis can go a step ahead in providing predefined or ready-made solutions that reduce the traffic of needless tickets routed into the system. Such an approach to maintenance management is the need of the hour. To what extent are manufacturing processes and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) digitized and integrated to support your organization’s digital vision? Spring into action.